Two criminals shot dead in Rohini encounter
New Delhi, June 18
The Delhi Police shot dead two dreaded criminals, including one carrying a reward of Rs 75,000 from two state governments, in a brief encounter in Rohini area of North-West Delhi early this morning.

20,000 phones dead in Noida
Snapped high-tension wires burn telecom exchange
Noida, June 18
With the 11000-volt cable snapping, the BSNL telephone exchange in Sector 19 here has been burnt and with it more than 20,000 telephones lines are dead in the area. The telecom department is estimated to have suffered a loss of Rs 2 crore.

DCP summoned in forgery case
New Delhi, June 18
A Delhi court has summoned a Deputy Commissioner of Police to appear before it for being an alleged beneficiary of an out-of-turn housing allotment even though he has not been formally charged.

Life term for murderer in property case
Noida, June 18
Rajni, who had married Hira of Mayasha village in Dadri, could never have imagined that the price of marrying a widower would be to lose her own life in a property feud.

Artscape
Hotel Ashok bustling with art
New Delhi, June 18
For a week beginning June 15, the corridors of the majestic ITDC-run Hotel Ashok here, have been bustling with a different kind of activity. Sixteen artists from all over the country who have been specially invited to participate in an Art Camp, are moving around with easel, paints and brushes to create two paintings each.

New Delhi, June 18
After playing a pivotal role in uprooting the BJP government over the issue of rise in the prices of onions, the National Akali Dal is giving sleepless nights to the Congress government over the inexplicable rise in commodity prices.

People form a long queue to buy ‘dal’ from the activists of the National Akali Dal during a demonstration against the failure of the Delhi Government to check prices, at Gurdwara Bangla Sahib in the Capital on Sunday.
— Tribune photo by Rajeev Tyagi

New Delhi, June 18
The Delhi Police shot dead two dreaded criminals, including one carrying a reward of Rs 75,000 from two state governments, in a brief encounter in Rohini area of North-West Delhi early this morning.

The face-off followed a tip-off that Satish, on whom the Uttar Pradesh Police had proposed a reward of Rs 50,000 and Delhi Police announced another Rs 25,000, would be coming to meet his associates near Swarn Jayanti Park in Rohini’s Sector 11 early morning today, said DCP (Special Cell) Ajay Kumar.

“When asked to stop, Satish, who was in a car, broke the barricade and tried to escape while firing at the police party. In return fire, he along with another gangster Vijay Pandit were critically injured,” the police said.

They were rushed to the hospital but died on the way, said the DCP. “A 9 mm pistol with magazine, a .30 Chinese pistol and five cartridges were recovered from them.”

Satish, a resident of Malviya Nagar, had been absconding since December 2005, when he escaped from Haryana Police custody in Agra and had more than 30 criminal cases against him, he told media persons. “A desperate criminal, who also made an attempt at a police constable in Delhi, Satish had seven cases of murder, two of attempt to murder, two under the Arms Act, one of kidnapping for ransom, two of threatening and 18 of theft registered against him,” the police said.

His associate Vijay Pandit, a resident of Silokhara in Gurgaon
(Haryana), had two cases against him in Gurgaon. “He along with Jai Prakash and others had killed one Dharamvir in a Gurgaon court while he was being produced in the court in police custody in February this year, Mr Kumar added.

Noida, June 18
With the 11000-volt cable snapping, the BSNL telephone exchange in Sector 19 here has been burnt and with it more than 20,000 telephones lines are dead in the area. The telecom department is estimated to have suffered a loss of Rs 2 crore.

Luckily, at the time of the accident nobody was working in the switch room otherwise some human casualties would have made it worse.

An 11000-volt cable had snapped in Sector 26 and fallen on a telecom pillar last night. The fire in the power wire is reported to have reached the Sector 19 EWSD exchange of BSNL
subterraneously. More than 19,096 telephone lines were immediately affected and all cards were destroyed.

The BSNL authorities are understood to be procuring cards from other exchanges in the area like
Javer, Maharshi Ashram etc to fix them. The shortfall in cards is being met by procuring cards from
Siemen. The officials had claimed that telephone lines would be restored by Saturday night but that could not be accomplished by Sunday evening even.

The BSNL authorities are reportedly contemplating suing the UP Power Corporation for this accident and loss. A large number of telephone users are, however, facing a lot of inconvenience in the meantime.

New Delhi, June 18
A Delhi court has summoned a Deputy Commissioner of Police to appear before it for being an alleged beneficiary of an out-of-turn housing allotment even though he has not been formally charged.

Taking congnizance of a complaint against Mr Rajesh Khurana, currently posted as DCP with the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) here, of forgery and criminal conspiracy, Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Kamini Lau, asked the police officer to appear before the court on July 14.

The court also took cognizance of the complaint of similar offences against the main accused in the case Ishwar Singh, a UDC with the Urban Development Ministry. The Deputy Director of the Urban Development Ministry had filed the complaint against the DCP.

The magistrate, however, lamented that the supervisory officer in the case - a JCP - had not even bothered to book the DCP, despite the IO having specified in the chargesheet that “there was sufficient material on record to presume that he was also involved in the commission of the crime”.

According to the case, Khurana wanted to upgrade his existing government accommodation to a higher level of D-II Ground Floor (Special Category), but being way down on the waiting list and on suggestions from accused Ishwar Singh, Khurana cited his wife’s chronic knee problem, and applied for an expeditious allotment on medical grounds.

Meanwhile, an RML Hospital report suggested that while “ground floor accommodation is recommended in view of her chronic knee problem, change in higher type accommodation cannot be recommended for this condition.”

However, the report, which accompanied the application, stated “D-II ground floor government accommodation is recommended in view of her chronic knee problem”. This second report, later found to be forged, was the basis of an order for sanction of the upgraded accommodation.

According to the complainant, Khurana would not have got sanction for the higher accommodation on the basis of the original medical certificate.

Noida, June 18
Rajni, who had married Hira of Mayasha village in Dadri, could never have imagined that the price of marrying a widower would be to lose her own life in a property feud.

The son of Hira’s first wife severed Rajni’s head in July 1995. Pronouncing his decision in this case, the senior level judge found Rajpal guilty and sentenced him to life imprisonment.

The disputed property was 12-bigha land which had deprived Hira of all his happiness. After the death of his first wife, Hira had remarried so that the family could be taken care of. But this experiment cost him the life of his second wife also. His son Rajpal had never accepted Hira’s second wife as his mother.

Rajpal wanted a share in the property which his stepmother wanted to secure for her own two children, son Santram and daughter Dhoshina.

In July 1995, Rajpal killed his stepmother with a single blow of a sharp-edged weapon while his wife Banto tightly held the feet of the stepmother. Rajni’s minor children were witness to this brutal murder. Rajni’s son had also gone missing from the day his mother was murdered.

Rajni’s daughter had, however, given an account of the blood-curdling crime in the court.

During the pendency of the case for 11 long years, Rajpal’s wife Banto had also expired. Rajpal, 65, was sentenced to life imprisonment by fast track court judge Alok Kumar Trivedi who found him guilty of murder.

The guilty person was also fined Rs 5,000 along with being awarded the life sentence.

New Delhi, June 18
For a week beginning June 15, the corridors of the majestic ITDC-run Hotel Ashok here, have been bustling with a different kind of activity. Sixteen artists from all over the country who have been specially invited to participate in an Art Camp, are moving around with easel, paints and brushes to create two paintings each. At the conclusion of the camp on June 22, the artists will present one painting to the hotel and take away the other one for themselves as a memento of their stay in the hotel.

The India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC), a public sector undertaking, has apparently taken the cue from the private sector and recognized the advantages of patronizing art and artists considering the prices Indian art is fetching in international auctions.

Similar camps will be held in July and August in Jaipur and Bhubaneshwar respectively.

‘Soil-o-graphy’
gets popular

After clay modelling and papier mache, ‘soil-o-graphy’ is fast catching up as a popular art form in the National Capital Territory of Delhi with several galleries showcasing the unique Indian art form which attempts to breathe life into ordinary soil with natural colours.

Pioneering the innovative form of painting in the National Capital Territory of Delhi is noted artist Seema Naqvi, who has been using soil from across the country in her creations after scientifically examining its artistic utility.

Besides the traditional representation of Hindu deities, the paintings, which take months to prepare, also give life to socio-cultural and literary motifs.

According to Naqvi, this art form has been inspired by the traditional wall paintings in the country’s rural areas. Apart from giving a fresh lease of life to the traditional art, it is also providing a means of livelihood to artisans, who have become victims of modernization.

In an effort to support such art forms, which have little or no state funding, Naqvi’s recently opened ‘Aasman Art Gallery’ is investing half of the revenue yielded from the sale of such paintings towards preservation and development of such soils in different
parts of India. Also on the anvil are international exhibitions to let the world “get a feel and ragrance” of Indian soil.

World Cinema
memorabilia

Osian is organising an exhibition of World Cinema memorabilia from its archive and library collection at the Visual Arts Gallery, India Habitat Centre here from June 17. Dubbed as the country’s first such exhibition, it is being curated by Neville Tuli.

Kashyap’s
creations

Canvas, a local art gallery is showcasing the creations of Ghanshyam Kashyap. The exhibition of the contemporary art is on till June 29.

Paintings on
Delhi

The India Habitat Centre here is holding an exhibition of paintings on Delhi by the well-known artist Sanjib Saha. The exhibition is on till June 30.

Traditional crafts

The Crafts Museum here is holding a demonstration of traditional Indian crafts daily from June 1 to 30. Specially selected crafts persons are demonstrating their skills in a bid to keep the traditional crafts alive.

New Delhi, June 18
After playing a pivotal role in uprooting the BJP government over the issue of rise in the prices of onions, the National Akali Dal is giving sleepless nights to the Congress government over the inexplicable rise in commodity prices. Mr Paramjeet Singh Pamma, president, National Akali Dal, led the protest and challenged the government by purchasing dals and cereals which are being sold in the market at about Rs 50 kg and selling the same at Rs 20 kg.

The success of the protest was evident with the long queues and people who were eager to purchase the goods at unbelievable prices.

Mr Pamma led the protest march to
Gurdwara Bangla Sahib and said that by selling dals and cereals at Rs 20 kg they would like the government to realise the plight of the common man who suffers the most due to the rise in commodity prices. Also, since the government had failed to control this unprecedented rise in prices, Mr Pamma stated that Chief Minister Sheila Dixit must submit her resignation at the earliest.

He claimed the prices of common household items like dals, cereals, vegetables etc had gone beyond the reach of the common man.

New Delhi, June 18
The Right to Education Task Force (RETF) put together a multi-stakeholder consultation for improving the quality of education in MCD schools.

The Director, MCD Education, Mrs Indira Yadav, said recently that “the school and the community should work together. We will ensure that the teachers and the school administration is made accountable to the community.” The volunteers of the RETF or the ‘Shiksha Mitras’ spearheaded the dialogue.

Sharing his experiences on the state of MCD education in schools, a volunteer, Santosh, said, “Having been a student of MCD schools, I know the challenges we have to face. As I do not want other children from my community to face similar bottlenecks, I decided to volunteer my time to RETF. I find that in small ways I’m making a difference.”

Another volunteer, Ajay, added that the forum of youth volunteers had even approached a principal to get a child admitted into a school.

While discussing the work being done by these youth volunteers, a Delhi High Court advocate, Mr Ashok Aggarwal, added that “we systematically collate and send these feedbacks to the concerned authorities.” “In some instances, action has also been taken against principals, supervisors and even class-III and IV employees,” he added.